Advanced Information Technology and Plagiarism
Rampant Cases of Plagiarism
Cases of plagiarism are rampant and are becoming uncontrollable. We can put the blame on the fast advancement of technologies. To be more specific, it is the internet technology which is now the most used medium to gather information. Not only that internet is very sophisticated but also, it is accessible to most. Decades ago, plagiarism only takes place when one copy ideas from instructional materials like books but now, it has become widespread as internet connection is almost available in every part of the world.
The internet enables the people to access on almost all the needed information they want easily and quickly. As a result, there is a tendency to rely more on the work of others found in the internet. Though there are a few secured data, there are lots of information that one could just copy and paste and take it as his/her own. Copy-paste is not the only form of plagiarism that occurs with the use of internet technology; it also takes form when someone modifies other people’s words but still using the same sentence structure. Though internet technology is of great help in the learning process and educational improvement, we may also conclude that internet also provides problems in these manners especially in the copyrights issue.
Easier Plagiarism through Accessible Information Technology
The internet provides variety of information. There are many websites that individually tackle each different field of sciences, arts and all other areas of studies while there are also sites which discuss many if not all areas. This is one factor why many are becoming internet dependent and are not consulting obsolete books in the libraries anymore. Other factors would be the accessibility, convenience and rapidity in utilizing internet. Since internet dependence already exists as it advances more and more through time, plagiarism is also equally increasing. Plagiarism allows people to accomplish things fast and effortlessly with the aid of internet. Modifying terms from the ideas of an original work taken from the internet and presenting it as one’s own, is becoming simple as well. Though citation and reference to the work of others are allowed, it is still of great relevance to publish one’s own and original concepts. This keeps you from the harm of experiencing the effects of an intellectual dishonesty.
Neat Facts Concerning Plagiarism
Students are very prone to plagiarism as they are unaware of the consequences of such. If these students are continuously allowed to use the work of others as their own, plagiarism may get serious as it might become a habit. Lessening plagiarism may be difficult but there are various ways to do so but perhaps, it would never come to a point that we could do away with it. Plagiarism could be limited when informative sites have security features like imposing downloading fees and requiring users’ whereabouts. Example of such is Harvard Business School.
There are now softwares that could help limit plagiarism and an example of such is www.duplichecker.com. With this, there is an explicit categorization of the contents whether for publicly owned or personal. In this manner, there would be restrictions to which data could be easily accessed and not which is very important especially with topics of high relevance and which are mostly sought after by people. Formal publications and using the copyright laws are ways to discourage people from stealing ideas for there is a foreseeable bad effect. Appropriate and due credit to the references and authors should be given if you use their ideas to support your own theory and concepts.
